Image series 48 / 2022: Max Beckmann

Drawn Faces

28 November 2022 | By: Bettina Pfleging

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After a psychological breakdown during World War I, the copper plate became the main vehicle for German artist Max Beckmann’s art as he searched for a new artistic visual language for what he had experienced. “Faces” is one of the series of prints he made between 1915 and 1918. It shows the life of the time in all its facets, looks behind the facades and under the masks.
In the exhibition, around 130 etchings, lithographs and woodcuts by Max Beckmann document the importance of graphic art for his entire artistic oeuvre. It spans from early works on paper to the three large portfolios Gesichter (Faces), Jahrmarkt (Fair), and Berliner Reise (Berlin Journey) in the interwar period to the last graphic portfolio Day and Dream, which was created for the American market after World War II.

„Max Beckmann Graphics”
23rd October 2022 to 15th January 2023, Suermondt-Ludwig-Museum, Aachen

01

Max Beckmann. Gesichter: Zwei Autooffiziere, Ausschnitt, 1915, Büttenpapier, Wien; Sammlungen Online Albertina, Albertina Wien

02

Max Beckmann. Gesichter: Mitternacht, Ausschnitt, 1916, Büttenpapier, Wien; Sammlungen Online Albertina, Albertina Wien

03

Max Beckmann. Gesichter: Prosit Neujahr, Ausschnitt, 1917, Büttenpapier, Blatt: 29,9 × 36,6 cm, Platte: 24 × 29,9 cm, Wien; Sammlungen Online Albertina, Albertina Wien

04

Max Beckmann. Gesichter: Familienszene, Ausschnitt, 1918, Büttenpapier, Wien; Sammlungen Online Albertina, Albertina Wien

05

Max Beckmann. Gesichter: Auferstehung, Ausschnitt, 1918, Büttenpapier, Wien; Sammlungen Online Albertina, Albertina Wien

06

Max Beckmann. Gesichter: Kaffeemusik, Ausschnitt, 1918, Büttenpapier, Wien; Sammlungen Online Albertina, Albertina Wien

07

Max Beckmann. Gesichter: Das Gähnen, Ausschnitt, 1918, Büttenpapier, Blatt: 44,6 × 37 cm, Platte: 30,5 × 25,6 cm, Wien; Sammlungen Online Albertina, Albertina Wien

08

Max Beckmann. Gesichter: Irrenhaus, Ausschnitt, 1918, Büttenpapier, Blatt: 36,8 × 37 cm, Platte: 26 × 30,8 cm, Wien; Sammlungen Online Albertina, Albertina Wien